More than 44 people have died in politically motivated killings between January and September 2026, according to Gun Free South Africa.

The organisation recorded the deaths across 37 incidents, alongside six assassination attempts and two thwarted plots, reports The Witness.

KZN recorded the most incidents, with 16, followed by Gauteng with 10. The Eastern Cape, North West and Western Cape each recorded five incidents, Mpumalanga had two, and Limpopo had one.

More killings since September

On Thursday, two ANC members were ambushed during a door-to-door campaign in Umgababa, leaving three comrades hospitalised. About two weeks earlier, senior KwaZulu-Natal ANC leader Samora Ndlovu survived an assassination attempt when gunmen shot at his car on the R56 near Richmond.

This followed the killing of four ANC Youth League members when a gunman opened fire as they left a memorial service in Katlehong North, Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, on a Tuesday evening.

The national death toll has since risen above 44, following further killings after September 2026.

Systemic issues cause guns to end up in the wrong hands

Gun Free South Africa consultant Claire Taylor expressed concern over KZN leading the fatalities, citing the province’s history of political violence.

She said the number of such killings had increased by 45%, with ANC members accounting for the largest share.

“We need to close the gaps in how guns end up in the wrong hands.”

“We also need to deal with systemic issues, including how the firearms registry works,” Taylor said.

Former investigative journalist and author Julian Rademeyer said gunmen killed five political party candidates and campaigners across the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal between the evening of Saturday, June 20, and the early hours of Sunday, June 21.

In his paper, ‘Ballots and Bullets: Targeted Killings and South Africa’s 2026 Local Government Elections’, Rademeyer noted that some killings go unreported because they occur in areas with little media coverage or are disguised as robberies or other crimes.

Gaining access to tenders a big motive for killings

“The Moerane Commission, appointed by the KwaZulu-Natal premier in October 2016 and chaired by advocate Marumo Moerane, spent almost two years examining the murder of political figures in the province.

Its report, released in September 2018, found overwhelming evidence that access to resources through the tender system was a primary cause of political killings, describing a procurement system manipulated and exploited ‘by politicians and public officials in collusion with businesspeople’.

“It also found that criminal elements were being recruited by politicians to achieve political ends, that state security institutions were being manipulated for political purposes, and that weaknesses in Crime Intelligence, the South African Police Service’s domestic intelligence division, had undermined both the prevention and resolution of these murders,” Rademeyer said.

ANC leader Mdumiseni Ntuli said the party and the country were facing rising levels of crime more broadly.

National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said police have an election plan in place.

“The national commissioner will engage commissioners in all provinces on their readiness for the coming elections.

“Intelligence is on the ground, and the PKTT has already taken over the investigations into these killings,” Mathe said.

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